Instructions for Authors

Requirements for manuscripts submitted to JPDA

Journal of the Pakistan Dental Association (JPDA) follows the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors revision of December 2017 available at http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. The ethical declaration for JPDA is based on the ‘Code of Conduct’ guidelines by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) available at www.publicationethics.org. The JPDA is indexed in WHO Index Medicus (IMEMR) for EMRO Region and is recognized by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. The journal website is indexed with Google scholar and cross ref (DOI).

The Journal accepts Original Articles, Review Articles, Case Reports, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor and Guest Editorials on important issues of current interest. Original / Review articles should not exceed more than 8-12 double-spaced typed pages. Only those manuscripts or data that have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere for publication are accepted. Re-analysis of previously published data can be considered for publication.

Potential Conflict of Interest:

The authors must declare any potential conflict of interest on a separate page. The author must also declare the source of funding for the research project The third declaration must be about access to study data and responsibility of author about integrity and accuracy of data analysis

Author Contribution:

Contribution made by each author should be declared on a separate page.

An author is a person who

Has significant contribution in conceiving and designing the study, and recording, analysis and interpretation of data. Has written or critically reviewed the manuscript. Has approved the final version. Has agreed to be responsible for accuracy of results and integrity of the research. All such contributors who do not fulfill all four criteria should be acknowledge separately.

Ethical Approval:

All research projects that involve Human Subjects or pose serious threat to ecological system must get an approval from their respective Institutional Review Board before the commencement of study. If however, an IRB doesn’t exist in the parent institute, the author can take approval from another institute where this facility exists.

Clinical Trial Registration:

All clinical trials should be registered in a trial registry at the time or before enrolling the first patient.

Please use standard software for sample size calculation. Also mention the formula used, the estimate used for calculation and reference article from which the estimate is derived.

Submission Process (Online Only):

All submission should be through website (http://my.ejmanager.com/jpda/submit.php). All manuscripts should be accompanied by a letter from the author responsible for correspondence regarding the manuscript on behalf of his co-authors (if any). On receipt of the manuscript it will be initially assessed and, if having some merit for publication, an acknowledgement letter along with an author’s certification form will be sent to the correspondence author to proceed further.

General Guidelines:

Manuscripts submitted for publication in the JPDA should follow the instructions given below:

Please submit your manuscripts to JPDA in Microsoft Word version 97 or above . No manuscripts prepared in Word Perfect or other word processing software will be accepted. Also, no illustrations or other material prepared in Power Point will be accepted for review. If your material was prepared in Power Point, please copy it into a Microsoft Word document or submit it as a JPEG. Manuscripts should be typed on 8 – 12 double-spaced on A-4 size papers (around 3000 words) with at least one-inch margins all around. Number all pages in sequence with the running title of the paper on each page. Tables and illustrations should be submitted as a separate file. Identify statistical measures such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Make sure that each table, figure and photograph is cited in the text. Keep the number of each to the minimum needed.

Photographs must be submitted in electronic format (e.g. JPEG) of minimum 300 DPI. Please label them accordingly. (e.g. Picture no . 1, Pre-operative view). Permission must be obtained by the author for the use of any copyright material published previously. Any patient who is clearly identified in the article (either in text or in photographs) must sign a form indicating his or her consent to be thus depicted in the article. This consent form (PDF) must be submitted with the manuscript. The manuscript, except for special communications and Guest Editorials should contain the following sections:

a) Title Page

Page 1 should include the title of the article and the name, degrees, title, professional / institutional affiliation and location of every author. Fax number, and email address must also be provided for the correspondence author. If the paper was presented at a meeting / conference or an organization / professional society, details of the conference etc, its location and dates, should be included.

b) Abstract / Key words

Page 2 should include a maximum of 250 words as a structured abstract

(i.e. Objective, Methodology, Results, Conclusion). Abstracts for case reports and literature reviews need not be structured. A list of 4-6 Key words should also be included.

c) Introduction

Summarize the rationale and purpose of the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor should it have data or conclusions. Give only pertinent references and clearly state the working hypothesis.

d) Methodology

This section should be presented in sufficient detail to allow the reader to easily comprehend the methods used. Published methods should be referenced and discussed briefly unless some modifications have been made. If the method is new, give enough information so that other investigators are able to apply / use it. If a drug / material is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration / applications and manipulation, must be explained. Obtain ethical approvals and informed consents as required. For patients, gender and age (with their mean and standard deviation values) must be given. Indicate the statistical methods used if applicable.

Specify any computer programme used for analysis of the data. Any term that is frequently mentioned in the text can be abbreviated only if it does not detract from readers’ comprehension e.g. sub acute bacterial endocarditis (SBE). Do not start any new sentence with a figure

e.g. “40 patients were seen” should be written as “Forty patients were seen”. When using abbreviations, the full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Use generic terms whenever possible, but the trade names, manufacturer’s name and address should be included in parentheses at first mention.

Statistical Analysis: It is an integral part of methodology and should be written with clarity and enough details that any knowledgeable reader could verify the accuracy and appropriateness of the analysis and results. Where applicable, the findings should be presented in quantifiable terms and a point estimate and confidence interval reported. It is advised that only p values are not reported since they fail to convey important information such as effect size and precision. The software used for statistical analysis and its version should be mentioned.

e) Results

Results should be presented clearly and logically as text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data present in the tables or illustrations. Instead, a reference to the table or figure number can be given. Emphasize only important observations. Mention whether the hypothesis is accepted or rejected.

f) Discussion

This should emphasize the present findings and variations from or similarities with other relevant studies. Point out the implications of the findings and the limitations of the study. Do not repeat in detail the data or other material given in the Introduction or Results sections.

g) Conclusion

Include a numeric listing of evidence-based conclusions.

h) Acknowledgement

Type on a separate page. Grant or other financial support, and commercial interests, should be specified.

i) References

Please use VANCOUVER style of referencing (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). All references given must be cited in the text and numbered in order of appearance in the manuscript. The reference list should be typed in numeric order with double-line spacing. It should start on a separate page after the main text of the manuscript. Do not include unpublished data or personal communications in the reference list. If essential, they can be included in the text with the details and dates shown in parentheses. Avoid using abstracts as references.

Provide complete information for each reference, including names and initials of all first six authors. If there are more than six authors, the remaining authors should be mentioned as “et al.”. The author name(s) and initials are followed by the title of the article, the name of the journal abbreviated according to the style followed in Index Medicus, year of publication, journal volume, and number of the first and last pages. e.g.:

Reference for a chapter or part of a book should have author name(s) and initials, full title of the chapter or part, name of the editor(s), complete title of the book, city address, publisher, year of publication and the number of the first and last pages. e.g.:

On a separate page(s) 4-6 objective, multiple choice (MC) or true / false (T/F) type questions should be supplied for readers. The questions must be double-spaced and have four selections, (a) through (d), with correct answers indicated.

Review Process: JPDA is a peer-reviewed journal. All articles on receipt for publication are acknowledged, but it does not mean that the article is accepted for publication. As per HEC / PMDC rule the MS is subjected to plagiarism check. Similarity index above 19% will not be acceptable for publication. The article is sent to two reviewers who take about 4 – 8 weeks to review the article. The ultimate authority to accept or reject the manuscript rests with the Editor. Confidentiality of the author(s) is maintained. On receipt of the comments from reviewer and, if the article is approved, a letter of acceptance is issued to the author stating the likely date of publication. JPDA reserves the right to edit all communications. If required, clarifications or changes are sought from the correspondence author. No article is rejected unless two of the reviewers reject it.

Proof Reading: A formatted PDF version of the manuscript will be sent to the author for proofing. Please indicate corrections/changes in the PDF using the sticky note and highlight text option in Adobe Reader XI or above. This version of Adobe Reader is freely available.

Publication Charges:

Local Authors: Rs: 8000/-

International Authors: US$ 150.00

About the Journal

Journal of Pakistan Dental Association is the (JPDA) the official scientific journal of Pakistan Dental Association (PDA). It is published quarterly. A double-blind peer review system is followed to ensure a high quality of publications. In addition to that, each publication undergoes a plagiarism check with Turnitin. Recognition and indexation information of JPDA is as follows.